Switchfoot

The stage is totally unlit. The audience waits in uniform silence, almost holding their breath. Suddenly, a man begins to sing, loud and clear, voice echoing through the open-air auditorium. The music begins. The lights come up, revealing a band dressed in t-shirts and jeans, singing as if it is the only thing they know. The band is Switchfoot. The message is clear.

Switchfoot formed in the 1990's, back when bands like 311 and the Foo Fighter's were coming into existence. Originally, they had intended to name the band “Chin Up”, but the name did not quite fit the message they were looking to convey to the general public. The name “Switchfoot”, a term used to describe what happens when a surfer turns their board one hundred and eighty degrees, fit the band's message perfectly. Jon Foreman, lead singer and co-founder of the band, sought an impact in the young culture, whether secular or otherwise. Jon wanted to communicate one thing: he wanted to call the youth, his audience, to wakefulness. Jon made a direct effort to instill the question in his listeners: what is truly important? In following with this, Jon wanted his listeners to conclude that God was the only important thing in this world of trends and deadlines.

Switchfoot's debut album had a title track that seemed to follow this message with defining clarity. The album was named Legend of Chin; the track, Ode to Chin. The song starts out much like any alternative rock song might: electric guitar, descending scale, background drums. But in following with his original message, Jon asks a question: “what's your direction?” Jon sets the stage for a song that lays claim to a sort of “down-to-reality” feel. He is setting up the rhetoric of the song to communicate that what he says about life is true. The very first few seconds of the song being the listener back to reality. The descending scale proceeding his question, the “tinny” sound of Jon's voice (as if one is listening through a radio), and the question all seem to point to a very “realistic” feeling for the listener.

Jon follows up the first line with a demand: “tell me what's wrong, tell me what's right...think about somebody else for tonight, cause God's more then words, you're more then this; so what's your direction?” Jon has called his audience selfish. He has called them selfish and a facade. And yet, his claim does not seem to defray the audience. Perhaps his follow-up chorus does the trick to keep the audience listening. Jon chooses to answer his own question within the framework of the song, he presents his message, the bands message by saying: “go where you are, anchor your roots underneath, doubt your doubts, and believe your beliefs.” He makes a very clear, very honest request of his listeners, without revealing what he thinks of their lack of belief in God. All he requires of them is that they be who they are. All-in-all, Jon's rhetoric has sought to convince a young, teenage audience to be more genuine then they have been.

Following in the same fashion as Legend of Chin, Switchfoot communicates a rather strong question to their target audience, in their 1999 album, New Way to be Human. Even from the album cover, one could tell that Switchfoot is pushing the same message as their previous album. The cover of the album was bright red and had only a large thumbprint as the artwork, ironically, a symbol of humanity. The title also followed in keeping with humanity, but it did not suggest that the audience was alright with the humanity they functioned in. The very meaning of the title “New Way to be Human” hints that the current way to be human is not something the band approves of. The band seems to be driving at a need to change, to be different, to be a “new human.” This, mixed with the thumbprint, communicates that their new way to be human is, perhaps, the new way to be human. That is to say, the visual rhetoric of the album cover seems to communicate that Jon's new take on humanity, is the only “cool” one, according to the band.

The title song underscores, re-iterates, and expands on the rhetoric of the album cover. The song comes right out and makes the claim that the cover hinted at: that his way, is the only way to be human. Jon builds to his claim by breaking down the “importance” of common pop-culture concepts. For example, he opens with the line “everyday it's the same thing, another trend has begun.” Hinting that trends are something old, an everyday thing, or “un-cool.” Later in the verse, Jon solidifies this by calling it like he sees it. He says, “it's a race to be noticed.” And, as if to make sure the audience knows this is a bad thing, he follows the comment with “it's leaving us numb.” Both comments, combined with the album cover and the name send a very clear message: to the band, current culture is “un-cool” and undesirable. But he does not leave it there, he adds a kicker for the audience: the chorus. After claiming that trends are common-place, and noticability is numbing, he finishes by saying “With all of our fashions, we're still incomplete. The God of redemption, could break our routine.”

by using words like fashions and incomplete together; and redemption and break together, Jon gives his listeners a sense that the pop-culture of the world is not as fulfilling as they might wish. The rhetoric of his claim is found most subtle in the way he uses “God of redemption” and “break”, as if breaking from the culture Jon disapproves of is the new way to be human.

In some ways, Jon's tune seems broken itself. The song is poppy enough, to be sure. His voice is clear, and his song seems to be over-all, a good seller, as far as musical-culture goes. But that seems to be the issue, for his musical rhetoric and his message appear to be in conflict. But perhaps that is the point. Jon seeks to communicate that the way to truly be human is for a person to find their identity within the framework of the “God of redemption,” not within pop-culture, which is the very method he is using to say this. In many ways, an ironic piece of rhetoric is very useful, if placed in the correct hands. In Jon's hands, the irony of his song seems to have the desired cultural impact.

The cultural impact of Switchfoot is nearly immeasurable. Like Nirvana, Switchfoot started out as a garage band and had something new to add to culture that the rest of the musical world could not. But, unlike Nirvana, Switchfoot sought a higher calling then music. They wanted to teach their audience something. They wanted their audience to move beyond the cultural norm that had been defined by those that preceded them. Switchfoot shaped their rhetoric accordingly.

In their hit album, Switchfoot re-recorded a song that would later become the first to make it to the radio. Dare You to Move. The earlier version of the song had been in the album Learning to Breathe, but Beautiful LetDown made the song famous. Within the song, Jon opens with a very down-to-earth feeling, much like Ode to Chin. “Welcome to the planet,” is the first thing he says, and he moves through the song with an overtone of discontent with the present. He says again and again “I dare you to move, like today never happened,” as if his audience has some mistake to correct, and living as if today happened is not compatible with truly living.

Jon underscores this, or rather, proves this in the bridge when he states: “maybe forgiveness is right where you fell. Where can you run to escape from yourself...?” Once again, Jon is only seeking to convince his listeners that the only important thing in this world is God, the “God of redemption” or in this case, forgiveness. He is using his rhetoric to argue that his audience ought to “move” into forgiveness.

This song is, like many of their songs, a good example of rhetoric. Throughout music, in all fields the purpose is to sell a feeling to the listener. Music is emotional. But unlike most music, Switchfoot's music has a different tone to it. They appeal to logic, alongside emotion. Switchfoot uses their songs to instill new ideas of existence in their listeners. For Switchfoot, they are a published band, and their credit stems from this. But for their music, they present the emotion first. In the case of “Dare You to Move,” the emotion is found in the first few words “Welcome to the planet, welcome to existence, everyone's here.” Jon is setting the stage to a larger picture, while making the audience feel as if they are not alone. He presents the song and the “dare to move,” to open up the emotions of the listener to hear his true message, he argues: “the tension is here, between who you are and who you could be; between how it is and how it should be.” Jon carefully uses all three aspects of the rhetorical triangle to appeal to the audience to “move,” as it were. This is consistent with all of the music Joe Foreman writes.

The rhetoric of Switchfoot's music appears to be the only consistent thing their music contains. Jon Foreman seems to posses the desire to change the style of music the band plays, every time they record an album. But perhaps this is part of their message. Switchfoot consistently communicates a need for their audience to change. Everything from talking about becoming a new human, to “moving,” or in their later works, “awakening.” But Switchfoot moves far beyond just using their music the communicate that the audience needs to re-form their beliefs. They use everything from the name, to their life.

Switchfoot places their life on display as an example for their fans. In 2006, Switchfoot hired a cameraman to follow, film, and post videos of them on a podcast. This alone, began to show that Switchfoot was not afraid to be on display for their listeners. The entire purpose of the video was to convince the audience that Switchfoot was willing to act what they sang. They “proved,” as it were, that they were able to not only to sing a message of change, but to act a message of difference. Switchfoot displayed their own “New Way to be Human.”

In retrospect, their new way to be human had a deep cultural impact. Switchfoot was a band of Christians in a time when Christian bands were just coming into their own. As a result, their rhetoric had to be new and innovative, and even today, is it. Switchfoot communicates a message of change, of new humanity, and their fit their music, their life, and their name to the message. Jon never intended for Switchfoot to be a Christian band, but Jim Farber of the New York Daily News argues that the band always intended to be “Christian by faith.” The rhetoric of the label, or lack there of, had a very interesting effect. Switchfoot began as a secular band, and continues as one. Yet they sing about the Christian God time and again, and, as Jason Dunn indicates, the majority of their fans are secular.

Secular or no, Switchfoot has made a dent in culture. A person cannot look around themselves without seeing the effect at least once a week, if not once a day. Switchfoot was one of the first three bands to make it into the “Christian musical culture,” with DC Talk and Jars of Clay, but Switchfoot was willing to set them selves apart from the rest of the so-called “Christian-bands,” and, in an even deeper effect, place their lives on display for the world to see.

Today, one can look around and see Christian bands everywhere, but it started, in many ways, with Switchfoots' willingness to “take their own medicine,” and be different. In the end, Jon Foreman was right when he said “It's the new way to be human, it's nothing we've ever been.” But it is a song that Switchfoot has now become, and they sing their rhetoric well.

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith,

Nathan